[GCARC] GCARC Tech Saturday Open House is next Saturday May 8

[Jon Pearce]

We’re hoping for good weather for the “Return to Tech Saturday Open House” event next Saturday May 8. The GCARC Clubhouse will be welcoming GCARC members and visitors back to the first in-person event in more than a year. Milder temperatures should allow gathering comfortably outdoors and the Clubhouse windows and doors will all be open for good ventilation. Come down to connect with old friends, see many changes that have taken place at the Clubhouse and watch a few satellite passes (hopefully). Bring your HT and directional antenna to participate in a local fox hunt run by N2GXJ. Invite your friends from other radio clubs to see what their clubs are missing by not having a well-equipped ham station with massive antenna arrays available to their HOA-limited members. But mostly just get OUT OF THE HOUSE and come down to be with other people. The Clubhouse will be open at 9 AM; any planned activities such as the fox hunt will start at 10.

Tech Saturday events are held on the first Saturday that follows the monthly General Membership meeting that’s held on the first Wednesday of the month. We’ll be planning activities for those dates based on member input, but topics under consideration include Arduino projects, working satellites with your existing equipment, understanding APRS capabilities, building an AREDN<https://www.arednmesh.org/> microwave mesh  network in the local area, and others. If you have particular interest in any of these or other areas email me at the address below and we’ll schedule a program on that topic.

In addition to the Tech Saturday sessions we’ll be holding “Clubhouse Project Saturday” events two weeks after the Tech Saturday dates beginning on May 22. On these days we’ll be working through the list of projects that are needed to keep the clubhouse functioning well, including cleaning out the shed and performing other maintenance, painting the steps and other similar projects. If you’re available and would like to help please email me at the address below. The clubhouse is a defining asset of the GCARC and needs proper maintenance to continue functioning well.

The Clubhouse is located adjacent to the Gloucester County 4-H Fairgrounds, 235 Bridgeton Pike (Rt. 77) Mullica Hill, NJ 08062. Turn into the road for the 4H grounds and look for the building on the left with a whole lot of antennas!

Thanks and 73
Jon Pearce, WB2MNF
wb2mnf at arrl dot net